NY Times · Sep 30, 2021
It’s Up, and It’s … Good? Why Teams Don’t Try More Long Field Goals.
Ravens kicker Justin Tucker hit the longest field goal in N.F.L. history Sunday, at 66 yards, to beat the Lions.Credit...Tony Ding/Associated PressWhen Tom Dempsey walloped a record 63-yard field goal for the Saints in 1970, it might have ushered in a new era of long kicks. Instead, it was an anomaly, so much so that it took decades for another kicker to match it.
It’s taken 51 years to nudge the record three yards higher, as Justin Tucker of the Ravens did last week with a 66-yard field goal. It’s worth asking: Why have field goal records generally stood for so long, and why are they broken by such small margins?
